1. Field of the Technology
The present application relates generally to mobile stations operating in a wireless communication network, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for efficiently managing the storage of e-mail message information for mobile stations.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless communication device, such as a mobile station operating in a cellular telecommunications network, may provide for both voice telephony and data communications. A mobile station may, for example, be compatible with 3rd Generation (3G) communication standards (such as IS-2000 Release 0) and utilize Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless network technologies.
Such mobile stations may have the ability to send and receive electronic mail (e-mail) messages. These e-mail messages may be seamlessly integrated, synchronized, and updated via the cellular network, with the mobile station user's corresponding e-mail messages being stored and/or associated with a host computer system or server to thereby create a mirrored host computer for the mobile station.
The mobile station itself, however, has a limited amount of memory for the storage of e-mail. Traditional techniques for managing the storage of e-mail message information involve the automatic deletion of some of the “oldest” e-mail messages in the memory once the memory is full or near full. This is inconvenient as there may be a desire to retrieve some of these older messages at some point in time.
Accordingly, what are needed are improved methods and apparatus for efficiently managing the storage of e-mail message information for mobile stations so as to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art.